mid-day editorial: Our films don't need moral policing

After an eight-month court battle to ensure a film titled Ha­raamkhor is allowed to release, makers of the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer and a few cast members are now receiving death threats

After an eight-month court battle to ensure a film titled Ha­raamkhor is allowed to release, makers of the Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer and a few cast members are now receiving death threats. Some so-called ‘custodians of morality’ are harassing the filmmaker and the crew because they don’t approve of the film’s plot, which shows the relationship between a 14-year-old student and her tuition teacher.

According to the makers, these so-called activists are using the frayed argument that “the film is polluting the culture of our country with its story and title.” A report in this paper stated that those who have received the threats have not asked for police security as yet, but will be forced to do so if matters go out of hand.

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Such moral policing needs to be stamped out. Once the censors have cleared a film, it should be released without a hitch. Our filmmakers are pushing the envelope with bold themes, with a hint of practicality not seen before. These films need not become blockbusters, but the fact that these filmmakers are willing to pick up the burning coals for the masses is praiseworthy.

We never can decipher who these custodians of morality are or what makes them the final authority on our culture. Who allows them the right to choose what the audience must see? What makes them so sure that something they deem incorrect will pollute minds of all?

Such social bullies must be thw­a­r­ted. Let’s not allow such narrow-min­ded people to impose more diktats on our filmmakers. Let our brave storytellers not live in trepidation of any sort of attack. These people also
insult the intelligence of the masses.

We have had enough of self-appointed protectors of Indian culture. Let’s reject their interference in our cinema halls and in our lives.

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